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My weekend, although almost over, started out very well. As my Friday came to a close I ventured one longing glance at the empty pool, when to my surprise there was an ever changing reflection as only wavy water can create it. Naturaly, the pool is still not filled up to be considered swimmable, but it’s definitely wadeable. The pool is being filled as I write this through a more or less flacid 50mm diameter water hose – a single water hose. As the pool fills, even in its sad barely half full state there is beauty to be found in colors, contrast and shape.You see when you just fill a pool without consideration if there are items in said pool that may not necessarily belong here, these items depending on their physical properties will start to float or stay on the bottom. In this case we have blossoms and leaves floating. Of course, we have a little more lunch when we have strong contrast occuring sparingly – such as a red tulip in a field of white tulips or two fresh red blossoms in a blue pool.
I cannot wait until the pool is full again and I can swim in water again. Until then I will enjoy whatever I can find in the pool. With sweaty regards from BKK and the invaluable advice to stay sharp.

“I tell you what. We done digging ourselves a mighty fine hole.”
“A mighty fine hole, all on our own.”
Yep, as you can clearly see some dudes dug themselves a quality hole. Now the question is what to do with that hole. This is the lay of the lay of holes. And the three gentlemen seen below are enjoying their brand new hole. Think of it as hole 2.0, because it has a concrete floor….this what the French call “‘ole de Luxe”. And best of all, when you own your own hole, the environment amps up its coloring and you live in Technicolor. This is the real deal.
I’m in a hole!
Can you believe it?
I’m in a motherf$&#%ing hole.

I went swimming today in our pool, completely ignoring…what was it…the water or lack thereoff. Which just shows there are no limits to the the determined human spirit. I did 2400m freestyle and set a blistering pace of 58sec/100m completing the distance in just under 24min. I finished with a nice 600m backstroke cool-down. Not to brag, but I was ON FIRE!

Well, what do you think? You may point out that there is water missing in this pool, in order for it to be a swimming pool. I would award partial credit to this answer. An indentation whose main purpose was to become filled with water in order to provide a place to frolick and swim. However, if such a pool is built and for some reason the builder was not properly schooled in the art of such pool building, then the Very least one must expect is the following:
1. Make parts of the pool walls with transitions to the ground.
2. Have at least two different depths in said pool also connected via an appropriate transition.
Why?, you ask. Because that way ye pol has still a back-up purpose in case it cannot be filled with water – Skateboarding. You can still skateboard in it. If the above mentioned two requirements are not met and the pool is empty all you have is a uselessly tiled hole in the ground.
An that is tragic.

Stay sharper than the dude who built the pool where I live, because that is just a tiled hole in the ground.

Whoohoo, back in BKK. This means it is not cold anymore, my body has switched to full in sweat mode…because it is H.O.T.!
But that’s besides the point. The point is, I rode around BKK on my bike, weaving through traffic and I came across a few semi-torn down buildings with cool graffities sprayed on – urban artworks, man. Can you her the little voice:”I am the face of an evil corporation,hihihi…” You know you have a world class bike shop operation with a cool sign like a crankwheel and a skull. More sprayed wall art. And if you turn your head by 90degrees to the right you will see gigantic wall art with a fish-bone carcass. This is what I love about Bangkok – there is this complete lack of planning and organization – you have super luxury shopping temples right next to some ancient neighborhood, that’s about to be flattened by some investor who thinks it’s a brilliant idea to replace this living, breathing neighborhood with just another shopping mall. But that hasn’t happened, yet. Cool, so that’s it for today. Stay super sharp.
Markus \m/

I am on my wag back to Bangkok. 12h time shift, 6months seasonal shift, 100% cultural shift – there you have it. But before I enjoy Bangkok’s balmy air caressing my skin, I had a few opportunities to capture Winter over Alaska and Japan. Somewhere over Alaska, the area is HUGE and vast and expansive. Still over Alaska.
Next moving on to northern Japan – I am guessing maybe somewhere around Nagano or Sapporo. Not that I have a definite clue, but both locations have hosted olympic winter games, so they have snow and are Japanese. Ah, the power of deduction…. And wintery Japan with a piece of wing, as proof so to speak that I flew on a plane and wasn’t joyriding with a modified jetpack.
So long from Japan. Stay sharp.
Markus \m/

I ❤ LA. When I grew up America was made up of two stereotypes: New York City, specifically Manhattan where all super rich people lived, riding on 18-speed bicycles. And Los Angeles where all my musical heroes lived a live that was one endless party that must have started before I was born sometime in the sixties. And that party was just getting better as I began to hit the stride of my teens in the mid to late 1980s. Unfortunately, I did not live in the neighborhood as I was separated from this obviously greatest party ever by a continent, an ocean and France.
As I grew older, I began to see more in LA than just sun bleached manes, searingly hot women, surfing and screaming guitars. I started to see the grit. Today, I saw two scenes that reminded me of that grit, the sometimes destructive aggression that’s fueled by the desire to express. A message scratched into the sink of a gas station toilet. The messages continue in the mirror.